Patrick Davis: Highland Village has history in water district

Recently, our city manager, Mike Leavitt, and I went to Austin for the approval of the Lake Ralph Hall water rights permit by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

We wanted to attend this monumental event not only because Lake Ralph Hall is the first major new water supply reservoir to be approved in almost 30 years, but also because we have been involved with the Upper Trinity Regional Water District since its inception. One of our greatest achievements in regionalism for North Texas came out of the late 1980s, when our past mayors and councilmembers took a leadership role in establishing the Upper Trinity Regional Water District.

Highland Village has benefited tremendously as an active participant in the district. Former mayor Austin Adams and our current board representative, Rich Lubke, have both served as president of the UTRWD. The city of Highland Village has participated in every initiated program at one time and has benefited from the services provided by the UTRWD.

Our water supply was critical in the '80s when the UTRWD was established, is critical today and will be critical for the future as well. The fact is that North Texas is blessed with growth and prosperity for years to come, and Texas is expected to increase in population from 24 million to slightly more than 46 million by 2060. We have to plan effectively for our future needs.

Highland Village has concluded a future water-consumption study based on our final buildout number in population for our water demand. We are also involved in the North Texas Ground Water Authority, an entity created by legislation to oversee and ensure the longevity of our aquifers. The UTRWD is the planning entity that has been charged with identifying a 50-year supply plan under Senate Bill 1 for the service area of the UTRWD, under the 2011 Regional Water Plan, Region C. The UTRWD is serving 25 communities and four special water districts; currently, the raw water-supply outlook is estimated to be 20 to 25 years. UTRWD raw water sources of Lewisville Lake and Ray Roberts Lake State Park were impacted in summer 2011, and we all felt a sense of uneasiness as the lake levels decreased. Their third raw water source is Jim Chapman Lake, but that is shared with another water district that serves all of Collin County, which was stressed to provide the raw water for both districts. As identified and approved in the Region C Plan and supported by past and present city council resolutions, we support Lake Ralph Hall.

The next step is to fund the construction of Lake Ralph Hall. The Region C Plan shows the cost for this lake at $286 million. An opportunity for assistance in funding the lake is up for consideration in the Nov. 5 election as one of the Constitutional Amendments on the ballot. I urge you to research this proposition, as well as all the others, and exercise your democratic right to vote. You can find information on the propositions on the Denton County elections website, votedenton.com, and on The League of Women Voters of Denton website, lwvdenton.org.

Local contruction

As we move into the fall months, we have a major change taking place in Highland Village. That is the widening of Interstate 35E from U.S. 380 in Denton all the way to Interstate 635 in Dallas. We have closed Copperas Branch Park, as the Texas Department of Transportation will be utilizing the park as its staging area for the project. There has been much discussion about this project and we’ve been anticipating it for years. In fact, that is one of the reasons Denton County Transportation Authority’s A-train was put in place — so there would be an alternative travel option. Another change we will have to adjust to is the Interstate 35E frontage road becoming one way. At some point in the construction process, our unusual two-way frontage road will become a one-way southbound lane.

We are working closely with TxDOT on the communication of the construction and detours that will come with this project. TxDOT has a website in place, 35express. org, which will provide all the needed information, including a place where you can sign up to receive email or text notifications on the project.

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